Back Then
by esmeandluna17
Summary: She didn't know this James. Sure she had been friends with him since April but for him to be considerate and kind, was a James she had never known before. He wasn't the stuck up James, or the I'll-ask-you-out-at-every-moment-of-the-day James. He wasn't even the funny James that she had decided to be friends with last year. He was the James that was caring and kind. JP/LE
1. Chapter 1

**Authors note:**** My first fanfic so please go easy but reviews would be great!**

**Disclaimer:**** J.K Rowling is amazing and she owns any characters, that appear from her inspirational books. **

**Chapter one**

Lily casually leant on the barrier between platforms nine and ten before she appeared gracefully on platform nine and three quarters. She smiled at the familiar sight of the Hogwarts express and the busy crowds of students. Pushing her heavy trunk, she searched for her new and old friends. Familiar faces surrounded her as she tried to spot the marauders or Alice. The latter was the first one she saw.

Alice had Strawberry blonde hair and dark brown eyes and her eccentric fashion sense matched her bubbly personality. Today she was wearing a pink sweater with dark green skinny jeans and she had her hair tied back into a loose bun. Lily smiled at her best friend as she rushed over and hugged her.

"Hey Lils how was your summer?" Alice gushed "Did you see the Marauders?"

"It was alright and no, I didn't but I did keep in contact by owl" Lily replied. Alice looked at her questioningly but Lily shook her head as if to say 'I'll tell you later'. "We should probably get on the tr-"Lily tried to finish but was interrupted when she was almost tackled to the ground by three tall men, two with black and one with fair hair.

"Lily!" James Potter cried as he ruffled her hair teasingly. Lily acknowledged how much taller and more muscular he was than when she had last seen him in July. His jet black hair flopped over his forehead and his hazel eyes looked at her lovingly. She didn't take this fact to heart though; she knew he was only playing up to loving her but she was quite fine with just being friends.

Sirius Black on the other hand was hanging on to her waist refusing to let her go. It was ironic because Sirius was probably the least likely to hang on to a girl rather than cheat on them. She laughed and unclasped his arms from around her. He jumped up and grinned at her with that winning smile. She couldn't help but smile back.

Remus Lupin beamed at her from around his owl's cage. His deep blue eyes were laughing at his immature friend but she knew he was hurting inside. He was a werewolf and Lily had known since fourth year but she didn't know what to say to his friends. Guessing by the way they were all so close to each other, they probably knew what he was but she didn't want to say she did. She hugged the three men before looking at her trunk aimlessly. To be able to push it along on the trolley was one thing but she knew she would die trying to carry it on to the train. She noticed Remus elbow James in the ribs who cried out in pain. "What was th-"James began but noticing his friend's expression asked Lily "Do you want me to take it?" Lily nodded and the group of friends climbed on to the Hogwarts Express.

An hour later and Lily was laughing at a joke that James had cracked about Sirius and the girl he had met over the summer.

"Honestly, it was hilarious, she was flirting so much and he didn't realise, until I told him that he should put her out of her misery" James continued obviously glad at the response he was getting from Lily. Sirius sat there glaring at them which only made them laugh harder. Remus was stifling a laugh behind his book called 'Potions gone wrong' and Alice was giggling quietly.

"Well I'm going to go and find Frank guys, I'll see you later" Alice said opening the compartment door and stepping out into the deserted corridor. Frank Longbottom and Alice had been dating since sixth year and they had met several times in the holidays. Lily liked Frank, he was perfect for Alice; quite quiet but he had a good sense of humour and he was quite good looking.

"How long have they been dating?"Sirius asked Lily.

"About five months" Lily counted on her fingers "maybe six" she said as an afterthought. Sirius nodded, just as James reached for his trunk because the trolley lady had come round. Lily watched him count out twelve knuts and handed them to the middle aged lady in exchange for 3 pumpkin pasties. He chucked one to Sirius, one to Remus and one to Lily before sitting down quietly. "Why didn't you buy one for yourself?"Lily asked curiously.

"Allergic" James answered simply.

"Then why do you buy them?"

"Because I know you all like them. Remus and Sirius always have them and I saw you eating one back in third year" Lily looked at him flabbergasted. She didn't know this James. Sure she had been friends with him since April last year but for him to be considerate and kind in this kind of way, was a James she had never known before. He wasn't the stuck up James, or the I'll-ask-you-out-at-every-moment-of-the-day James. He wasn't even the funny James that she had decided to be friends with last year. He was the James that was caring and kind.

He was the James that she had fallen for...

...hard


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: J.K Rowling is amazing and she owns any characters, that appear from her inspirational books**

Chapter two

Lily's new discovery shocked her so much that she gasped in realisation and almost fell off her seat.

"You ok Lils?" James said placing a hand on her shoulder to steady her. She nodded; throwing him a weak smile to reassure him. He looked unsure but dropped it and leant back in his seat. She looked around the carriage and saw Remus smirking behind his book. Wow, that boy saw right through her. She kicked him in the shin which removed his grin immediately.

"We need to go Lily." James said after twenty minutes of deadly silence. Remus stood up beside him waiting to go.

"What? Oh. Right. Prefects meeting." She said, coming out of a daze. He stood up and held open the door for her as she walked out. Lily and James had been chosen for head boy and girl at the end of last year when Dumbledore had taken them out of lessons to congratulate them. But they hadn't been able to tell anyone until they received the letter in the holidays. Lily had found it quite easy but she knew James had gone and told Sirius and Remus straight away.

She wasn't going to deny it though; she had been surprised when Dumbledore had told James he was head boy. At the time, James played pranks on everybody twenty four seven. Well that was partly true. He didn't prank Alice, Sirius or Remus unless they had annoyed him and Lily couldn't remember a time when he had pranked her on purpose.

"Lils? Are you sure you're ok?" James inquired once they reached the busy prefects compartment.

"Mmhm" she responded reaching out for the door but James grabbed her wrist, sending hot shivers up her arm. He pulled her arm to the side, causing her look into his hazel eyes; she could feel his breath on her neck.

"You know you could tell me if something was wrong, right Lily?" He whispered in her ear.

"Yep" she said nodding vigorously as she pulled away from him and opened the compartment door. "Hello, I'm Lily Evans, this is James Potter, and we are your new head girl and boy" she said indicating to James and herself at her words. Excited murmurs came from the girls in the compartment at hearing James Potter's name.

James was one of three of the heart throbs in the school. He was good looking, Gryffindor quidditch captain and every girls dream guy. One other heart throb happened to be Sirius who was just as good looking as James and a Gryffindor beater. Girls could flirt all they liked with James but everybody knew he wouldn't go out with a girl until he won Lily over. And Sirius tended to give girls his heart one week and then break it, when he gave it to another, the third and final heart throb happened to be Amos Diggory who had gone out with Lily the year before and then dumped her when he said she wasn't as brainy as Joanne Timber. Joanne, who was a seventh year at the time, was in Hufflepuff, was the prettiest girl in the school and was dripping in money. Lily might add from time to time that Joanne had the IQ of a potato. Lily had then run for comfort from none other than James Potter, who hexed Amos the next time he saw him. That had been the beginning of a great friendship.

Lily hadn't realised that James had been talking to the prefects until Remus coughed; awaking her from her daydream. She looked at him gratefully before trying to catch up in the conversation. It turned out James was talking about the main issue of prefect rounds.

"So Jennifer will do the later round on the Thursday with me" Jennifer Ballot batted her dark long eyelashes at James when he said this "And Jasmine will do the earlier round with Lily" Jasmine fumed silently next to Jennifer in the corner.

"Problem?" Lily asked Jasmine

"No" Jasmine grunted.

"No? Come on spit it out. What is so wrong with doing rounds with me?" Lily asked, silently laughing as she already knew the answer.

"Ok. I think it's unfair how Jennifer gets to go with James and I don't... I mean some other girls don't" Jasmine stammered, embarrassed. Lily's heart clenched at the thought of all the competition for James.

"Well-"Lily started to say just before she saw Remus stare pointedly at James, who interrupted.

"Well we'll have to work this out then won't we ladies. I will go with Lily as she clearly doesn't want to go with me and then you won't need to feel as if anything is happening between the two of us." James said winking at the two bickering girls.

"Fine" they both said together before giggling and whispering in each other's ears. Lily rolled her eyes and averted her attention back to the meeting, only to find three pairs of eyes on her. One pair belonged to none other than Severus Snape who was Lily's least favourite person on the planet. He was looking at her with a mixture of confusion and respect. She turned a displeased scoff into a cough and focused her mind on the other pairs. Another belonged to Remus who was smirking slightly at her flushed cheeks and hands balled into fists. She smoothed out her hands immediately and looked at the last pair of eyes. James was looking at Lily with a mixture of amusement and slight confusion, like Snape. She decided that enough was enough and finally spoke up.

"First Hogsmede trip is on the twenty eighth of October, further details will be put up on the notice boards in your common rooms. Slytherin, your password is gillyweed, Hufflepuff's is Mountain Troll and Gryffindor is Mandrake. Ravenclaw is, as always, a different question every time. Tonight you need to come up with a list of new passwords for the year. Do not tell any other houses your passwords unless it is absolutely necessary."Lily concluded walking to the door to indicate the end of the meeting "If you have any other questions please do not hesitate to come and find either me or James."James stood up mouth slightly agape at how she had said everything in almost one breath.

"Umm, next prefect meeting is on the first of November." James said following Lily out of the door.

He found Lily back in the compartment they had been in before the meeting. She was sitting with Alice and Sirius who were listening intently to what she was saying. It was obviously something important and about him because Lily was sitting there, with her head in her hands. As soon as James entered the compartment she wiped her hand across her face and looked out the window. James reached for his trunk and received his invisibility cloak. He saw Sirius look at him with curious eyes before James gestured toward the door and back in. Sirius understood at once.

The idea was that James would go out and make Lily believe that James was gone and then he would sneak back under the invisibility cloak, to find out what she was talking about. He just hoped Alice and Sirius would be able to keep up conversation.

Five minutes later Remus was walking down the corridor and spotted James waiting out of view of the compartment. James quickly told Remus the plan; luckily Remus caught on fast. He nodded to his friend, who opened the door; James slipped in after him.

"I'm just so confused about what I feel" Lily exclaimed wiping away a stray tear. "I mean, one hour I like him as just friends and then the next I... I don't know. More than friends, I suppose."

"Lily, you just need to tell him" Sirius said soothingly "He understands what you're going through because believe it or not he likes you in 'that' way too. " Remus nodded and Lily smiled.

"Really?"

"Really" Remus and Sirius confirmed, sighing slightly. Boy, did they know it.

Meanwhile, James who was hidden under the invisibility cloak was just about hyperventilating. Lily liked him? Lily **_Evans_** liked him? Was he dreaming? He couldn't believe it or take the suspense any more. James slipped out of the door and shook of the invisibility cloak. What did he do now? Did he go back in or what?

After a minute of calming himself down he finally decided to walk back into the compartment. He ran a sweaty hand through his floppy hair before opening the door; fully visible.

When he walked in Sirius was sitting there trying not to laugh, Alice was smiling slyly and Remus was back to hiding behind his book. And Lily was looking at her hands awkwardly; looking anywhere but at James. Then he realised that the only seat left was next to Lily. He glanced at his friends who stared back at him; they wouldn't budge. So he took the seat next to Lily. She shifted slightly further away from him and he sighed. So much for a new door opening for them, she wouldn't even look at him.

Well this was going to be a fun journey.


End file.
